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Coach
Steve Pavlovic's Philosophy
I
thought I would put this page together to tell you a little
bit about myself and my philosophy. First, I am a basketball
coach at St. Cyril and Methodius school in Lemont, Illinois, a
quiet town southwest of Chicago. I have been coaching for 22
years now, and my oldest son is now playing basketball for me.
How time flies!
I
became involved in coaching because there was a need for
coaches at the time. My 8th grade basketball coaches, who had
no children on the team or in our sports program, were a big
influence on me. When the opportunity came along, I
figured, "Why not, someone did this for me, I can
give back by helping out." I quickly became hooked on
coaching, trying to learn as much as I could. I still learn a
great deal from watching other coaches, those in our program
and those I am coaching against. Let me tell you, no one knows
everything about the game. You must be open to always learning
more!
People sometimes ask me, "How many games have you won in
your career?" That's a hard question to answer. First,
wins and losses are not as important to me when coaching lower
grades. I play everyone as much as possible, giving them game
time to help develop their skills. This helps our teams
at the 7th and 8th grade levels, as we can go much deeper on
our bench then other teams. Second, there has been some years
that I have coached more than 1 team because of a shortage of
coaches. If I had to make a guess as to how many wins my
team's have, I would say round 400 games.
To
expand on the development point I made above, I believe this is
the most important thing for a coach. Your main goal is to
develop as many ballplayers as possible. As long as a player
is willing to keep trying, I am willing to work with them.
Many players who didn't look like they had any basketball
skills in 4th or 5th grade, with some good effort on their
part, developed into solid players by the time they left our
school. So I try to work with all my players, not just my
starters or a select group. You never know when a player will
mature and get their coordination together. That's the
exciting part about coaching for me!
I
try to keep my team's offensive sets as simple as possible. I
would rather have a team that does a few things very well,
than to show my team 5 different offenses and have them run
none of them well. When I have a team that is exceptional,
then I will challenge them and add some more plays. I really
think if you get your team to run a basic offense, and they
learn where to go and where the open players are, you can be
very successful.
I
believe in man-to-man defense. Many teams we play against stay
in a 2-3 zone. I don't think this really helps the players at
all. They stand around and guard a spot on the floor. In our
program, we have our players playing man-to-man defense in
4th, 5th and 6th grade. In 7th and 8th, we give our coaches
the option of teaching their team a zone. I believe this is
the best way to do it. First, they learn about staying between
their player and the basket. Second, it helps with blocking
out assignments. Third, it helps make them more aggressive
defensively. Fourth, they learn about helping out on the weak
side. Fifth, they understand what defense is all about, so
when you do show them a zone, they will play it even better.
We give up some victories in the lower grades as we teach
this, but it pays off for us at the 7th and 8th grade levels,
which is where victories begin to matter. Like I tell my
teams, no one remembers what your record was at 6th grade, but
all players remember their 8th grade season. That's what we
build toward!
Well, that's about all for now. Hopefully this has given you
some insight into my way of thinking. Not everyone will agree
with you no matter what. My philosophy has always been to do
what's in the best interest of the kids. As long as I'm doing
that, I'm not concerned with what others have to say about it.
Coaching for me has been a fun and rewarding experience. If
you are involved in coaching, that's great and I commend you.
If you are thinking about coaching a team, that's great too. I
would encourage you to get involved. Just remember, you are
looked up to by these players. You are a role model. That's an
awesome responsibility! Keep in mind that youth sports are for
the kids, not for parents with large egos. Just do your best,
do the best for your players, and you and your team will be
successful!
Good luck to you,
Steve Pavlovic
Basketball Coach and
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